The Dodgers are certainly among the teams in that market, though GM Farhan Zaidi would commit to nothing other than a promise that the Dodgers “will continue to shop and look for ways to make our team better.”

“As for the pitching side, that’s going to be something we continue to evaluate, both the bullpen and the rotation,” he said. “But we have no specific plans there. Talks are fluid and ongoing, as they always are this time of year. We’re just going to continue to look for upgrades that make sense for us.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts continues his own search. He used four relievers in the eighth inning Friday night and even after the Dodgers made it a four-run lead he had to go to closer Kenley Jansen.

Four months into the season, Roberts still doesn’t have a clear idea of which relievers he can depend upon from one night to another.

“We know these guys will take the ball every day. They’re going to compete,” Roberts said when asked if he knew what he has in the current relief corps. “We know Scott Alexander can get lefties and righties out. He can put the ball on the ground.

“Outside of that … to be honest, we’re still trying to figure it out.”

TURNER TIME

Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was not in the starting lineup again Saturday and has not played since July 11 due to an injured adductor muscle in his right side. Roberts said Turner is running at 85 percent in workouts but Turner acknowledged “it’s there a little bit still at times.”

“I’m going through a gauntlet of things, trying to check off all the boxes,” Turner said. “I’m fine swinging. I took ground balls yesterday, felt pretty good. I can run to a certain point and keep it in control..

“But I did it on a checked swing (during the series in San Diego) so that’s one box that’s kind of hard to check off.”

If the Dodgers had placed Turner on the DL at the time of his injury – or backdated the move in the days before the All-Star break – he would be eligible to return now. But they have been carrying Turner on the active roster despite his limitations and now could not backdate the move fully.

A DL move now “just doesn’t make sense,” Roberts said, because the Dodgers would be without Turner for another six or seven days. Turner expects to return sooner than that and Roberts said “I’d like to think we get him in there” Sunday.

“I didn’t think it would have taken this long,” Turner said of his initial expectation. “I’m available to pinch-hit. If (Friday’s Brewers starter Wade) Miley had gone back out (for the seventh inning), I would have been the second guy (pinch-hitting).

“Just trying to continue progressing and go day by day.”

REHAB ROUNDUP

Roberts said Yasiel Puig is in Arizona and has begun hitting off a tee and soft toss. Puig has been on the DL since suffering an oblique injury on July 8. “Our goal” is to have Puig come off the DL and rejoin the Dodgers at some point during the four-game series in Atlanta next week, according to Roberts.

“That’s the plan,” Roberts said. “Where it stays on course depends on how he feels.”

Right-hander Pedro Baez made his second rehab appearance with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday, pitching a scoreless inning with one hit allowed and two strikeouts. Baez will need to show he has recovered enough from his shoulder injury to pitch more than one inning in an outing and also pitch on back-to-back days before he is activated from the DL, Roberts said.

ALSO

The Dodgers will send right-handers Ross Stripling (Monday) and Kenta Maeda (Tuesday) to the mound for the first two games of their series in Philadelphia then likely debut their six-man rotation. Rookie right-hander Walker Buehler is the likely starter for the series finale on Wednesday against the Phillies.

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.